That is a good question, which has occurred to me before in passing, though I've never given it much thought. I would assume he became interested in it at some point during his classical British education? Correct me if I'm wrong, but mythology used to be a big part of school curriculum, if not directly than through other classical works. Why C.S. Lewis would get so attached, I don't know. Personally I went through a phase of fascination with Greek mythology particularly, and would literally spend an hour reading the synopses of the stories in my family dictionary.

yes, Lewis goes quite a bit beyond the 'mere', concise, elementary or 'four-squared' Christianity, as we sum up all his work.

although he was trying to be concise when speaking to audiences outside of academy, so he said. Probably with some success, he was aware of the Problem of simplicity. (It's a lot of work ..)

but then, he was insistent in the belief that mythology supposedly has a potential to lead, at least some persons, towards Christian faith.

A sentiment open to doubt? Anyway it's a sentiment - as mythology does not prove things, it's rather suggestive and arguably dense in archetypal matter, this depending on your definitions. 'archetypal matter', if we know what that is, is supposed to be psychologically potent, that is: it may hit hard.

That is why I am rather open to doubt about baptizing pre-Christian traditions and myths, generally. Some academics of well-read brilliant minds may be capable of sorting out these matters. We hardly know precisely, how do we measure a professor's mind?

Lewis may have been too confident on behalf of his audiences' minds after 'all' ?

btw, 'Surprised by Joy' details these matters a bit, like Coracle hints us.

coracle wrote:If you can get a copy of Surprised by Joy, it tells a bit about how he was reading the older sort of mythical/heroic story as a boy, and how it really moved him.

I can see how that could be a motivating factor. I wanted to put a faun in a skit for a class and without the CoN I won't have been so attached to fauns. The other group members must have thought I was nuts and we ended up with a centaur instead.

The following quote from the Weight of Glory but help to explain it some.

In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more—something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses and nymphs and elves—that, though we cannot, yet these projections can enjoy in themselves that beauty, grace, and power of which Nature is the image.

It makes sense. For some reason people are attracted to nymphs and elves. Lewis clearly knows that these "people" are not real but are created by humans. Lewis probably didn't see it as going against Christianity. Many of the mythical creatures serve Aslan so in Narnia they are not "pagan."

I have to say, Twigs, that quote from The Weight of Glory is so perfectly worded. As an author, it made something in my heart go "that's exactly it!" I must admit I have never read that book before (I actually had to google it to confirm that the author was, indeed, Lewis, ), but it sounds very interesting. Does Lewis write extensively on the topic in there?

Twigs wrote:Many of the mythical creatures serve Aslan so in Narnia they are not "pagan."

I think you bring up another interesting point here, taking your idea and stretching it beyond Narnia. To apply the same idea in our world, where, while some cultures did tie mythical beings to pagan religions, they were not necessarily creations from paganism, but rather ones that were later incorporated. Take the minotaur for example. Most people credit his being to Greek influences, when in reality the half-bull half-man creature has appeared many times in history and around the world. The Assyrians and, earlier, Babylonians also had minotaurs in their art and lore--we just happen to have picked up the Greek name.

Narnia itself shows the value in putting Christian themes and messages in a less obvious way. He was a firm believer in expressing truths through other means, such as fantasy and fiction. It is also notable that many mythologies have similar plots or characters, and Lewis believed that they were all based on Christian truths. Therefore, he had no problem in using mythology as a means to convey Christianity.

NW sister Lucy of Narnia & Louloudi_the_Centaur, NW father of Aslans_JewelI am not my own for I have been made new. Please don't let me go-I desperately need you. ~Hoot Owls of Narnia!~